A Wondering Mind
by thelinksthatconnectus
Summary: Looking back at his past, Wybie admits some things to Coraline, along with asking her a few questions. Post-Coraline, AU where Coraline is trans. Coraline/Wybie Don't like, don't read.


The Pink Palace was coming into view; it was hard to miss. It still shone bright even after all of its years of use, and Coraline was sure that it would be shining even more. Wybie had told her a few days ago that his grandmother was going to have it repainted in the summer.

Outside, the sun shone, emphasizing the green of the place. It was far from the rainy, dull place that she had known when she had first arrived there.

Just before they could reach it, Wybie sharply turned, heading for a different road.

Coraline raised an eyebrow. "Have you started to think seriously?"

"What do you mean?" He turned his head, taking one last look at the giant house behind him.

"I was just wondering what we were going to do out here." She shivered. "You know this place brings back bad memories for me."

"It does for me too." Wybie laughed. "Man, that really was awful."

Two years ago, right after their relationship had started (four years if dancing together in the seventh grade counted), they had come to the area outside of the Pink Palace and made out. The house itself had a lot of land, but Wybie had been paranoid, afraid that his grandmother or one of Coraline's parents would find them. It had ultimately ended up with the two of them kissing each other sloppily and getting a whole bunch of poison ivy all over their legs. It had certainly not been one of the best moment of that summer.

"Let's just not get out of the car. How does that sound?" He looked over to her.

She nodded, bits of dyed blue hair falling in front of her eyes. Quickly, she moved them away. "Yeah, I think that would be a good idea."

Wybie parked, but did not turn off the car. It was already start to heat up; the old car's air conditioner working was certainly a blessing. Summer was going to be hot.

Wybie turned away from her, looking out his window. Without looking back at her, he reached out and placed his hand on top of her, running a dark finger gently over the top of her palm. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, of course," she responded. "Is something wrong?"

He shook his head. "No, nothing's wrong, Jonesy. I've just been wondering something."

"What?" She looked out her own window, observing the area outside. If she squinted her eyes, she could distantly see the cat sitting on the sign advertising the Pink Palace. He cocked his head, and Coraline wondered if that meant that he had saw her.

He took a deep breath, then turned back to her. "Coraline, how did you get your name?"

For a moment the car was silent, Coraline struggling to think of how to respond. She had been asked a lot of question about her names over the years, though none had come out like that. Most people just had trouble with the pronounciation.

"Why are you asking?"

He scratched the back of his head, silent for a moment save the sound of his fingers. "I'm just curious."

"You drove us out here to ask me about my name?" Coraline groaned. "Jeez, Wybie, you know that we could have done this at my place."

"No, we couldn't."

Coraline would have said more, but she stopped at his hard tone. When she did speak again, her voice was barely above a whisper. "Wybie, is something wrong?"

For a moment, he said nothing. Then, he began to sob, harsh sounds coming from his throat. A few tears ran down his cheek, and slowly came down faster and faster.

What could she possibly have done wrong? "Uh," she began. "Well, my name was kind of an accident, and mostly my dad's fault." She took a deep breath; never had she spoke of this before with anyone but her parents. It was really embarrassing. Wybie already knew about her, but he didn't know this. "Did I ever tell you what my parents called me before I was Coraline?"

Wybie looked over to her, wiping a tear from his eye. He shook his head.

"I was Corey."

"Funny," he said for a moment, his voice low. "I should have guessed."

For a moment, Coraline was silent, wondering what was the right thing to say. What if she ended up making Wybie cry again?

"Yeah, I'm glad that they didn't name me Napoleon the Second."

Wybie laughed. "Yeah, that would really suck for you."

She nodded. "It would have." She closed her eyes, looking back. She could remember the scene perfectly, even if it was years ago. "When I was a kid, after I knew about who I really was, my parents asked me if I wanted a new name. They tried their best to understand what I was going through, and I cannot thank them enough for that."

She could see her dad holding out a doll to her, the Barbie that she had been desperately wanting. He had gotten it for her even when a few parents had pointed at the "boy" in the doll aisle of Target.

"She's called Barbie," his father had said when they got home. He had gone a bit overboard, buying her more doll clothing than Coraline had ever known what to do with for just one doll, but she had been overjoyed.

Coraline had run her small fingers through the doll's hair. In her hands, she held a doll that could be whatever she wanted her to be. And to her at the time, she was an adventurer, ready to go to far away lands.

"Sweetie," her father had repeated. For the past few weeks, he had been hesitant to address her by name.

She looked back up to him.

"The thing was," Coraline said, looking into Wybie's eyes, "I had always liked the name Caroline. I can't explain why; I can't remember why. All I know is that I absolutely loved the name, and I wanted it to be mine."

"It's a nice name."

Coraline grinned. "Really?"

"Really."

A rush of confidence ran through her. "Then you should hear about how badly I mispronounced it. I said 'Corey-line'. I tried again, and it came out 'Coraline', like what we know today. My dad loved the idea, and it's stuck ever since. I don't know how, but my mom agreed with it."

"That's awesome."

"You're the first person to ever say that." She smiled. "Are you feeling better?"

He didn't respond.

"Wybie-"

"Do you know how I got the name Wybourn?"

She shook her head. "No, why?" It seemed like the most reasonable way to reply without risking having him cry again.

"My grandmother demanded that I have it. She told my parents that it had to be my name. I don't know why they agreed with it, but they did." He frowned. "I guess that you could say that it stuck too."

Silence stretched on between them again. Coraline hadn't noticed until then that Wybie had pulled his hand away; her hand felt strangely cold.

Wybie hadn't talked about his parents in years, not since Coraline accidentally found a picture of them while exploring Wybie's flat with him. He had quickly hidden it away, saying that it wasn't important. He quickly mumbled that they had died, nothing else.

"I thought about them today." Wybie sighed. "I guess it got me curious, and when I get curious I naturally start asking questions."

For a moment, Coraline understood what the cat had meant years before by cats not needing names. Coraline had stepped into his paws it seemed.

Wybie started to drive again. "I really do like your name, Jonesy. That's because I gave it to you myself."

This time, she was the one to take his hand and rub it.


End file.
